Senkaku activists announce protest voyages from Xiamen, Taiwan+

TAIPEI, Sept. 11 Kyodo -
Activists supporting Chinese sovereignty over the disputed Senkaku islands and
surrounding waters said Saturday that protesters in China will set out Sunday
from Xiamen on a voyage to the area and that Taiwan-based protesters will set
out within days.
Huang Hsi-lin, chief executive of the Taiwan-based Chinese Tiaoyutai Defense
Association, told reporters at a conference in Chungho, Taipei County, that a
number of fishing vessels are scheduled to set out from Xiamen and that, sea
conditions permitting, Taiwanese activists will set out as early as Sunday.
The disputed islands are known as the Senkaku in Japan, but they are also
claimed by China and Taiwan, who call them the Diaoyu and Tiaoyutai,
respectively.
Details of the Taiwan-based protest, such as ports of departure and number of
boats and onboard activists, are being withheld to avoid intervention by the
authorities, whom activists complain have cracked down on their activities in
recent years.
Huang said protesters will fish near the islands and attempt to disembark with
a statue of Matsu, the patron goddess of fishermen.
''We'll worship Matsu and have a barbecue,'' he said.
In recent years the activists have enjoyed no government or opposition
patronage and have little public support.
But the protests could exacerbate acute tensions between China and Japan over
the continuing detention of a Chinese skipper after his boat allegedly rammed
two patrol vessels in Japanese waters near the Senkaku on Tuesday.
The ramming incident, one of a growing number of confrontations between
Japanese and Chinese vessels in the region, triggered public protests in
Beijing and Hong Kong this week as well as the postponement of bilateral talks
this month on gas field development in the East China Sea.
Huang was one of more than 100 mostly veteran activists from Taiwan, China,
Hong Kong, Macao and overseas Chinese communities who attended the conference
Saturday.
In a message dated Tuesday that was read at the start of the conference, Taiwan
President Ma Ying-jeou extended his best wishes for the meeting.
''It is my greatest hope that with this esteemed conference, consensus...can be
reached in probing the practicalities of maritime economic territory,
guaranteeing the livelihood and rights of fishermen and contributing all
strength in the interests of regional peace, cooperation and prosperity,'' he
said.
Despite this, Huang was unrelenting in his criticism of the Ma government,
accusing it of using ''nasty, public methods of persecution'' against his group
as well as insipid handling of the decades-long territorial dispute.
In an April 19 interview with Kyodo News, Huang accused Ma of ''cowering''
before Tokyo and said the Ma government had sabotaged their activities and
threatened boat owners who might help the group.
However, veteran activist Chin Chieh-shou urged Chinese President Hu Jintao to
emulate Ma's more aggressive stance on Japan during his first year in office
''so that the Japanese apologize and offer compensation'' for confrontations
between fishermen and Japanese patrol boats.
Huang also said sympathetic businesspeople in China have provided funds for
this year's protest voyage, as with other protests in recent years.
Leading Taiwan-based activist James Hu said as long as Taiwan and China are not
unified, the sovereign dispute over the islands will be difficult to resolve, a
reflection of close ties between the activists and groups supporting
unification.
Huang, however, insisted that the activists' main concern is the welfare of
fishermen and that sovereignty is a secondary matter.
Miutak Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Protect Diaoyu Islands Movement
Committee, used the occasion to announce the formation of a preparatory
committee for the World Chinese Tiaoyutai Defense Alliance, a formal grouping
of activists from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, China and Canada.
==Kyodo
2010-09-11 23:49:55


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